side of the bed and sits down, watching me but saying nothing.
What do I do?
I can’t escape—I’ve already tried. Screaming feels ridiculous. Crying feels pitiful. Begging feels pointless.
What do I have against a man like that?
Nothing.
The truth of it sinks in like a physical thing, spreading through my body and coursing through my veins like blood. I have nothing. I’m weak. Powerless.
He can do whatever he wants to me.
Well, to my body at least.
That thought triggers another one, and I realize there is one thing I can keep for myself. My mind. Yes.
That is the one thing that he can’t have. No matter what he does physically, I can always resist him mentally.
Ruby explained it to me years ago, but I never properly understood it until now. You build a castle in your mind, and it is your place. No one else’s. You never let them in. They can do whatever they want outside, but you keep yourself safe inside.
He can’t get in.
When Baron reaches a hand down to push my hair back, for the first time I don’t flinch away from him.
I stand my ground.
He lets out a low hum in his chest and slides off the bed, getting down on his knees and facing me.
The silence drags out between us for a long time, and I have to bite my tongue to keep from asking what he wants. But I think that is what he wants.
He wants me to break first.
And I won’t do it.
He’s just dragging it out for his own enjoyment.
Let him, I tell myself. I am safe. I’m in a place where he can’t hurt me.
“Tell me, sweet girl, why don’t I see fear in your eyes? It was there when I walked into the room. And now it is there no longer.”
I stay quiet.
“I will have my answer,” he says, his tone a warning.
“Maybe I realized being scared of you is pointless,” I tell him.
He laughs at that and drags his hand down the back of my head, stopping when he gets to my neck.
“Pointless? What if I told you it was the only thing keeping you alive?”
“Then I’d tell you to kill me. Get it over with.”
His laugh only increases.
Yet again, I find myself in a game with him. I don’t know how it started, and the only certainty I have is that I don’t know how it ends.
“Kill you? You are so convinced I want that for you. I’ll let you in on a little secret if it means you’ll go back to being afraid of me…”
He shifts his position now and climbs back up on the bed, lying down beside me an inch or two away.
I want nothing more than to shy away from him, and the blood covering his clothes, but that is what the terrified me would do.
“I can’t promise you that,” I say.
He lets out another low hum, as if he’s considering something. “Pity. I was so beginning to enjoy our deals. Well, I shall tell you anyway and hope for the best. I am not going to kill you.”
“Why?”
He sniffs. “Believe me, I would tell you the answer if only I knew it.”
“You’re going to put me in one of those cages, like the other woman?”
He laughs. “Of course not! I’d rather see you dead than in there.”
“Then what do you want?”
He runs a finger down my spine, making me shiver. “I want you all for myself. Every part of you. Your body. Your mind. Your tears. Your fears. Your dreams. Your adoration. Every piece of you, all for me.”
I let out a sigh and shake my head. “I will never love you.”
“Oh, my sweet girl. You don’t need to love me,” he says. “I never asked for such an impossibility. You do need to fear me, though. You need to want me and wish that you didn’t.”
“No.” No. I won’t give him that. Not now that I’ve finally found the key to my survival. Not now I have my castle, and I don’t need to be afraid of him anymore.
He chuckles. “No?”
“No. I’ll never want you.”
His finger trails lower still and turns to a hand, and he rubs the curve where my thigh meets my ass. “Oh, my poor naive girl. I would not be so sure if I was you. I haven’t even tried yet.”
“Try all you want. You will never be anything more than a monster to me.”
“Well, let’s see, shall we? Tell me, what would make you happy?”
“What?”
“What part of that did you